A trailer hitch is attached to a frame of a vehicle to provide towing capability. The trailer hitch may be assembled to the frame of the vehicle during production of the vehicle, or may be installed to the vehicle as an after-market product.
The trailer hitch includes a cross-vehicle beam that is fixed to the frame of the vehicle, and a receiver fixed to the cross-vehicle beam. The receiver may receive a ball mount that engages a trailer for coupling the trailer to the vehicle to tow the trailer with the vehicle.
Several design constraints in the design of trailer hitches increases the manufacturing complexity and cost of trailer hitches. Specifically, the design of the vehicle may cause packaging constraints that require the cross-vehicle beam to be bent to avoid interference with other components of the vehicle, e.g., fascias, liftgates, underbody components, etc., when the trailer hitch is mounted to the vehicle frame. These bends must be designed so as to not reduce the strength of the cross-vehicle beam during towing and may increase the cost associated with manufacturing the trailer hitch.
As such there remains an opportunity to develop a trailer hitch that accommodates these manufacturing, packaging, and cost constraints.